Superintendents of three school districts in Fort Bend County urge Texas legislators to push for more public school funding and revisit the accountability system.

Other goals advanced by the educators at a recent breakfast hosted by the Fort Bend Independent School District include supporting a robust career and technology education program, protecting the Teacher Retirement System of Texas and saying "no" to school vouchers.

The superintendents of Fort Bend, Lamar Consolidated and Stafford Municipal school districts joined together to forge a list of six legislative priorities for elected officials to lobby for during the 83rd Legislative session, starting in January.

Funding is a top issue for the trio of districts, as it is for most school districts across the state, in light of the $4 billion cuts to public education just this school year.

Addressing a crowd of more than 100 school administrators, legislators, community members and other elected officials, Jim Rice, Fort Bend ISD school board president, said the current funding system is broken and needs to be fixed to live up to its mandate to provide adequate and equitable funding for all students in the state.

Rice said districts are dealing with an increasing number of students, more of whom are economically disadvantaged and don't speak English, alongside an increase in testing and rigor.

"We want to involve you in this critical conversation to address these concerns," Rice said. "In an effort to keep schools in Fort Bend ISD strong, we have embraced this legislative agenda."

The agenda calls on the Legislature to restore state funding to 2010-11 levels with a sustainable revenue system from multiple sources that keeps up with growth, inflation and state and federal mandates.

It also calls for a simpler, more equitable school finance system that provides enough funding to keep up with state standards and to serve each district according to its needs.

"The state should provide sufficient resources that align with academic expectations," said Michael McKie, acting superintendent of Fort Bend ISD.

Testing takes time

The agenda calls on the Legislature to come up with an accountability system to support continuous improvement in teaching and learning while lessening the burdens associated with state testing.

To highlight what school districts have to contend with, Stafford Superintendent Lance Hindt held up a 2012-13 school calendar of testing dates starting Sept. 10 and running through July 13. It encompasses dozens of tests under the old Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills and the new State of Texas Assessment of Academic Readiness, including the end-of-course exams, as well as benchmarks and assessments and test retakes.

"Teachers have to administer tests 38 to 45 times a year at the same time as teaching the curriculum from A to Z," Hindt said. "You can't help but teach to a test if you have to do this."

Hindt pointed to the monopoly that Pearson Education Inc. seems to have over the state's testing business, having hauled in $1.2 billion since 2000 from the state.

"I'd rather spend that money on teachers and instruction," he said.

Vouchers opposed

Hindt also talked about district opposition to school vouchers. He said vouchers would undermine the public school system by diverting tax dollars away from public schools to private schools, which don't have the same accountability requirements and can pick and choose their students.

Addressing the need for more career and technology funding and support, Thomas Randle, superintendent of Lamar CISD, said schools need an academically rigorous career-and-technical education and flexibility to substitute those courses for core course graduation requirements.

Protect retirement

He expanded on the need to protect the Teacher Retirement System of Texas. He said contrary to a number of media reports, TRS is healthy and has sufficient funds to make payments through 2075.

"This fund is well-funded and maintained," he said of the system that has 1.3 million participants. "This plan serves as a stellar example of a strong, well-managed plan."

District 27 state Rep. Ron Reynolds, D-Missouri City, said the list of legislative priorities has his full support and pledged to follow discussions on public education closely.

"I 100 percent agree with them," he said. "We need to have a finance system that works for all schools, and we definitely need to reduce the emphasis on high-stakes testing."